On Sunday I went after some smallies on the CT River in northern Connecticut. Prior to leaving I checked the USGS website and saw that the water levels were below anything that I had ever seen around here for this waterway. I had a hunch that I'd be able to get out to some structure that was otherwise unreachable and unsafe at higher flows.

I was right. There were several cuts and dropoffs that I was able to negotiate my way out to and fish. With an overcast sky, occasional drizzle, and cooling water temps the fishing was nothing short of fantastic. I lost track of how many smallies I caught, but they were good quality fish and a blast on the 6 wt. I even lost one small hammer handle pike that bit me off at my feet.

If you're within reach of good smallmouth water in New England, get out there! The fall feedbags are being strapped on.

Thats good to hear that the fish are cooperating. Gota love gatching a smallie on a fly rod. I have caught a few with the biggest one only being about 10". Hopefully I can get back on the susquahanna before Oct 1 to give it a whirl.

Smallies are a blast! I'm going out on Lake Champlain tomorrow morning. This is a fantastic Smallmouth fishery. I'll let on what's going on. It's been said before, but darned if I don't agree that the smallmouth is the best pound-for-pound fighter that swims. Favorite smallie flies?

I can attest to the clouser. My personal favorite is an oversized black woolly bugger with a little flash and peacock herl instead of chenille, all wrapped with red wire. I think they take it for a leach, or a hellgramite, which they love.

I fished the river again on Sunday with nearly the same results. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, but the wind kept a decent ripple on the water which was still low. My best results came on a white foam popper worked very aggressively over weedbeds, and on a size 4 olive over yellow surf candy with copper flash.

Aye, the salt flies do wonders on bass, and pike, too. My Champlain trip turned into a "texas-riggin'" expedition as high winds and being on my boss's boat combined to make fly-fishing inadvisable. Got one three-pounder that would've been a lot more fun to catch on a five-weight and wooly bugger. Beautiful day on the lake, beautiful fish.
Rock on, rock lovin' bronzebacks.